Thank you for participating in the first wave of the Toronto Family Study!
Searching for the Children in the Toronto Family Study, 25 Plus Years Later.
This study was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and began its initial work in 2017. All studies at the University of Toronto must pass the required procedures mandated by the Office of Research Ethics. Considerable effort has been taken since then to find contact points – sometimes an address, sometimes an email – for all of the original children. This is a long and arduous process, which respects and follows the guidelines dictated the Ethics Review Board. By 2020, we had enough information to begin our study and contacting respondents. However, the pandemic intervened and our study had to go on hold until 2022.
All of our contact information is based on public sources, and only public sources. There are no other methods used beyond those public sources, such as Canada411, or LinkedIn, or related sites that have public access and members post their own information. For many respondents, therefore, we have only partial information in any one category, such as home addresses, and thus we had to extend our search to include other possible ways of getting touch, such as email, or work addresses.
This process is labour-intensive, requires careful checking, and will be ongoing throughout the study. If you are an original respondent in this study, and you can help us get in touch, please contact the study email, tfsplus25@utoronto.ca.
Confidentiality Information
The survey is strictly confidential. This is not market research. Results will be in academic publications such as dissertations, journal articles or books. Although aggregated data from the survey will appear in academic publications and presentations, none of it will identify you or any answers you provide in any way. There are no risks associated with participating in this study. No attempts will be made to further contact you after this wave is complete unless you agree to participate in a future study. In that case, we will use military grade encryption to protect the personal contact details you provide until the next follow-up wave has received funding. No attempts will be made to contact any entity (e.g., person, place of work) you mention during this survey. All your personal responses will be encrypted and access to the aggregate data will be restricted to ensure you cannot be identified. If you would like us to send you a research summary after the project is completed, please contact the team by email.
If you have a question for the study team, please contact us at tfsplus25@utoronto.ca
If you have questions about your rights as a research participant, you may contact Dean Sharp in the University of Toronto Office of Research Ethics at 416-978-5585.
